You Don't Have to be Afraid
by Creative Echoes
Summary: Lizzie/Gordo fic. Cliche, but cool. The trio get in a car crash. There's Guilt, Romance, and Death. What more could you ask for? lol. Really fluffy ending. Please Read and Review. My first Lizzie fic. ~~~Arwen (Lauri)


A.N.: Hey all! This is my first Lizzie McGuire fic ever! I am a huge Lizzie/Gordo fan, so, of course this is a Lizzie/Gordo fic. And before you even think it (later on) no, I don't hate Miranda. I luv her! In facccctt...you'll see my idea when you read the ending authors notes. :D Well, here goes! They're all in like 10th or 11th grade. They can drive, lets just put it that way. Luv ya! PS: I apologize in advance for all the little ~'s and *'s. You see, ff.net kept over-riding my return key, and spacing. And no matter how many times I re-formatted it, it was still all squished together in places. SO in place of the return key, I used the ~'s and *'s. As my friend Bungo put it "Confuse the computer with small objects" lol. Anywho, on with the fic! ~  
  
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"Pleeeeeaaaaaseeeeeeee Gordo."  
  
"No! I'm driving us home in MY car." David Gordon, Gordo, restated to his best friend, and secret love, Lizzie McGuire.  
  
"Pleaseeeee..." Lizzie said pulling the sad puppy face. Gordo could feel his mind melting already...damn that face! It always works!  
  
"Okay, but only if you promise not to go crazy." He gave in, holding out the keys to her.  
  
"Thanks!" Lizzie beamed, plucking the keys from his hand and bouncing off with Miranda to the car. They were leaving the movie theatre, and it was already pretty dark out. Overhead there were no stars, because dark rain clouds loomed overhead. They had just reached the car when it began to pour down rain.  
  
'Don't let her drive...its too dangerous out...just tell her she can drive next time...' Gordo's mind told him, but she looked so happy, so he decided to ignore his worries and let her drive them the short distance home.  
  
They drove down the very empty road as the rain splashed against the windows loudly. Gordo was in the backseat, and Miranda was in the passenger seat beside Lizzie.  
  
"Lets put my CD in!" Miranda said and took the CD out of her bag, but as she opened the case, the CD had come loose and fell to the floor nearly all the way under the dashboard.  
  
"Shoot!" Miranda said as she leaned forward to get it. "I can't reach!" She started to unbuckle her seatbelt but was stopped by Gordo covering it with his hand.  
  
"Don't, it's not safe."  
  
"You're such a worry wart Gordo. Its okay! It'll only be for a second while I get the CD. Besides there's, like, no cars out here anyway! Chill." Miranda said and unbuckled her belt.  
  
What followed seemed to happen in slow motion. Everything was a blur, but Gordo clearly heard Lizzie scream and felt the car veer sharply to the right and skid roughly as she slammed on the break. Then there was a jolt and a terrible crushing sound, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. Then everything was black.  
  
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When Gordo opened his eyes, everything was out of focus. He had to blink a few times to clearly make out his surroundings. He was then hit with the pain coming from his head and chest. It was enough to make his head spin, but he had to ignore it. He was still in the backseat of his car. Lizzie was still in the drivers seat, but slumped forward over the steering wheel.  
  
The next thought that came to his mind was why hadn't the airbag worked, but then it changed to where was Miranda? He stumbled out of the door of the car, and saw that another car, a Jeep, had rammed into the front of his car. He walked around to the front of the car, and still no sight of Miranda. He then turned to the last place he wanted to find her; down the road. In the dim moonlight that came through the clouds he made out a crumpled form in the street. His heart jumped into his throat as he ran down the road towards it.  
  
There was Miranda. She was lying with her eyes open, and facing the sky. 'please be alive...please...' he thought as he knelt down beside her. As soon as he did his stomach turned. It wasn't just rain soaking through his jeans right now, but blood. The entire back of Miranda's head was crushed into the pavement. In her hand she still held her CD. He felt everything in his stomach come back up and he crawled over to the ditch on the side of the road and threw up.  
  
'Miranda's dead...she's...dead...' his mind swirled as he stood, trembling. 'Lizzie...'  
He opened the Drivers door, with some difficulty because it was crushed in places, and found Lizzie.  
  
"Lizzie...Lizzie...are you okay?" he asked hoarsely and with a shaking hand touched her arm.  
  
"...Gordo...?" he heard her mutter.  
  
"Lizzie, does your neck or back hurt? Can you move?"  
  
"No...I can move...Gordo..............I'm afraid..." her voice was barely even audible as she found and held onto his hand.  
  
"Lizzie I'm gonna pull you out of the car okay?" He said and carefully unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her out of the car.  
  
Her forehead had a large cut from the steering wheel, and her nose and lips were bleeding. Sitting he pulled her limp form onto his lap. Her eyes were unfocused on him, and she was shaking terribly.  
  
"My head..." she muttered in pain as tears slid from her eyes, blending with the rain.  
  
"Lizzie does anything else hurt?" he asked, choking back tears, but she didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she became even more limp than before.  
  
"Lizzie! Lizzie!!" Gordo cried, then noticed the form stumbling out of the Jeep. He squinted through the rain, and saw a male figure holding a cell phone. He seemed to be calling for an ambulance, but his speech was slurred. As he came nearer Gordo was hit with another shock...  
  
"Ethan!"  
  
"Gordo?" The very drunk boy blinked a few times. "What's wrong with Lizzie?"  
  
This time it was Gordo who didn't seem to hear. He simply sat, shaking, holding Lizzie tightly to him, staring straight ahead.  
  
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That was how the paramedics found him. They took him and Lizzie into one ambulance, Ethan in another, and he wasn't sure what they would do with Miranda.  
  
"Is...is she..." Gordo stuttered to the paramedic looking Lizzie over.  
  
"No, she's just unconscious." The woman reassured. "She took a nasty blow to the head. Was she the one driving?"  
  
Gordo nodded. 'It should have been me. I should have been driving. And Miranda...I should have made her leave her belt buckled. She's dead...d...dead...' He felt himself going lightheaded. He didn't even know what was going on until they reached the hospital.  
He somehow found himself in front of a phone. He supposed it must have been his subconscious guiding him, because he wasn't thinking, he knew that. He mechanically dialed Lizzie's home number. Her Parents first...  
  
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Riiinnngg.......Riiinnngg...Riiii-  
  
"Hello?" Mrs. McGuire answered in a sleepy voice.  
  
"Mrs. McGuire? It's Gordo..."  
  
"Gordo? Why are you calling at this time of night? Is everything okay?"  
  
"N...no...I'm...We're...we're in the hospital..."  
  
"What!? What happened!? Is Lizzie okay? Are you hurt?"  
  
"Lizzie's unconscious...I'm fine...I think....."  
  
"What about Miranda?"  
  
"Miranda's.......she's......Mrs. McGuire, come to the hospital okay? And...could you please call my parents too?" He choked out.  
  
"Yes, honey. We'll be there as fast as we can."  
  
"bye..."  
  
"Bye."  
  
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The McGuire's were the first ones there. They found Gordo in a tiny, empty waiting room, staring at the floor, silently. He couldn't get the images of Miranda out of his mind. And Lizzie, she was hurt...and it was all his fault.  
  
"Gordo, where's Lizzie?" Mrs. McGuire asked in the most worried voice he'd ever heard from her.  
  
Gordo lifted his head slowly, and looked at her. He pointed to a door to his left. "I..in there. They haven't come out since we got here..." he said quietly. That's when she noticed he was shaking. "Miranda is...Miranda...she's...d...dead....." he faded, looking back at the floor.  
  
The shock that filled Jo McGuire then was quickly overcome with concern for the boy in front of her. She knelt in front of him and pulled him into a hug. She could feel him shaking, and it was far more than she had thought. Every fear he had, she felt when he clung to her. He wasn't so grown up as he thought.  
  
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Matt McGuire pressed his ear to the door Gordo had pointed to. He heard nothing, which could be good, or could be bad. He decided to just listen anyway. Anything was better than seeing Gordo the way he was. For years Matt had looked up to Gordo. It was scary to see him so......afraid. He was just thinking he heard something when the Gordon's rushed in.  
"David, sweetie, are you okay?" Mrs. Gordon cried as she hurried over to her son.  
  
"Yea...I think so...Mom......Lizzie, and Miranda................" he said as she hugged him now.  
  
"Shhh...You need to get looked over, to make sure you're okay." She said and stopped a passing nurse, who said she would have a look at him.  
  
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"Are you bleeding?" the nurse asked, pointing to the blood soaked knees of his jeans.  
  
Gordo shook his head, biting his lower lip as the thoughts of Miranda returned again. Upon removing his shirt, they found why his chest hurt. The seat belt had dug into him during the crash, and had left a large, painful bruise. His eyes were also turning black, from where his head had slammed into the seat in front of him. More thoughts of his car came to him as he wondered why the seatbelt hadn't kept his head from hitting the seat in front of him. He also wondered, then, why he wasn't unconscious like Lizzie. He immediately realized that it was because steering wheels are a lot harder than plush seats, even if plush seats aren't the softest things in the world when your face is smashed into one.  
  
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"Mr and Mrs. McGuire?"  
  
"Doctor, how is Lizzie? Is she okay?" Mr. McGuire asked the doctor as he came out of the room. Matt, who had moved on to watching the news on the small TV in the corner, looked up and waited for the answer as well.  
  
"Lizzie is in stable condition. She has a few broken ribs on her left side, and hit her head on the steering wheel pretty hard."  
  
"Is she awake?" Mr. Gordon asked, as Matt joined them in standing.  
  
"Unfortunately, she's still unconscious from both the physical injury, and the shock." The doctor explained.  
  
"Can we see her?" Matt asked, looking towards the door.  
  
"Yes, go right ahead." The doctor said, and quietly left.  
  
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'I hear Mom, Dad, Matt and Mr. Gordon, but where are Gordo and Miranda? Oh I hope they're okay.'  
  
"Lizzie."  
  
'Miranda! Oh thank God she's okay. I'm so glad she's okay. She's safe with my family.' Lizzie thought upon hearing her best friend's voice join those of her family.  
  
"No, Lizzie. I'm right here." Miranda said, and then Lizzie could see her. It wasn't like her eyes were open, but more like she was trapped in her mind. She could see her hands, and legs and it was as if she were awake, only she couldn't see anything around her but darkness. In the middle of it was Miranda, only, she was...glowing.  
  
'Miranda? What are you doing here? How come I can see you.'  
  
"I'm here to keep you from being afraid, so maybe you can wake up sooner. Don't worry about how, you'll know eventually."  
  
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With his feet scuffing, and his head down, Gordo followed his mother back to the waiting room. The white of the whole place was starting to get to him. Everything was just pale and glowing. It was so empty. He began to wonder how people could even stand to work in places like this. They reached the waiting room to find it empty. They could hear voices coming from Lizzie's room though.  
  
Gordo stopped right in the doorframe when he saw her. Her head was bandaged and she looked so pale. Her hair was stained pink in places from blood and her eyes were still closed. Everyone else looked up when he came in, and quietly said goodbye to Lizzie, knowing that he should be alone with her.  
He walked unsteadily towards the bed and sat in a chair beside it. "Lizzie...I...I...need you to wake up. I...I'm...You look so weak..." he muttered, taking her hand in his.  
  
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'Miranda, Gordo is so upset, I can hear it in his voice. I can't do anything. I want to help him, I want to help him so much, but I can't......What should I do?'  
  
"I don't know what you can do.......When you wake up, you can, but not till then."  
  
'But I can't wake up! Miranda, tell me how you're here.'  
  
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'Please, Miranda...'  
  
"Lizzie, I...I didn't survive the car wreck...." Miranda said quietly.  
  
'Oh, Miranda, No! You're not serious right? You're really okay...aren't you?' Lizzie said, tears filling her eyes, she could feel them.  
  
"Don't cry Lizzie. You'll be okay. And before you even think it, it wasn't your fault. Oh, don't cry..."  
  
'You can't be dead Miranda...You can't...' Lizzie sobbed and hugged her friend. She couldn't feel that physically, but she could feel it in her heart, and it only made her cry more.  
  
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"I'm so sorry Lizzie. This is all my fault. If I had been driving, you would have been okay right now. And Miranda, if I hadn't...Lizzie please wake up...I need you to wake up...Please don't leave me alone..." he said, tears falling silently from his eyes. She, of course, said nothing. She didn't even move. He squeezed her hand, hoping to feel her squeeze back...nothing. He hung his head and his shoulders shook as he cried.  
  
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The sound of Gordo crying tore Lizzie thoughts from Miranda and back to him. 'Gordo! Gordo, don't cry! Gordo! Why can't he hear me?' she again tried to open her eyes, but failed. She could feel him take her hand, and wanted to sit up and hug him. She wanted to make any sort of movement, anything to help him. 'I can't.....I can't.......Gordo I'm so sorry.'  
  
"Lizzie, please don't cry. You need to wake up. He needs you Lizzie. You need him." Miranda said softly to her sobbing best friend, holding her still closely.  
  
'I need you too Miranda. I need you too! You can't leave us! You just can't...'  
  
"Lizzie, you can't have us both any more. You have to decide. If you never wake up, then you'll be with me. But if you want to be with Gordo, you have to wake up and leave me. That's why you can't wake up yet. You don't know what you want to do. You don't fully want to wake up. Do you understand? That's another reason I'm here. To explain to you. You have to make a choice."  
  
'No...I can't pick between you two. I love you both. I need you both...'  
  
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"Lizzie......I'm.....I'm afraid......." Gordo whispered between sobs, as he looked at her desperately.  
  
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'Don't be afraid, Gordo. Please, don't cry anymore.' Lizzie wept, looking again at Miranda. 'He's afraid.....and I can't help......can't you help? Make him feel better, do something!' she pleaded, hiding her face on Miranda's shoulder.  
  
"You love him."  
  
'What?'  
  
"You love him. Not like you love me, but you _love_ him. I know it. I've always known it."  
  
'Miranda.....what do you think I should do?' Lizzie brought her head up, and looked at her friend with tear filled eyes. Miranda had known she would ask that. She had seen it coming, and now she knew what she had to do.  
  
"Lizzie. I need you too. You know I love you, I always have, and it hurts to see you like this. If I were to ask you to do what _I_ wanted you to do, I would tell you to stay with me forever. But I know that that's not what I really want, because what I really want is for you to be happy. I want you to live and grow and do whatever you want in life. I want you to go to Gordo, because you love him." Miranda said, tears falling from her eyes.  
  
'Miranda, will I ever see you again? Will you be able to talk to me like this?'  
  
"When you dream, sometimes."  
  
'Miranda, I love you. I'm going to miss you so much. I feel like I'm losing half of my heart. Thank you. Thank you for helping me.' Lizzie said, hugging Miranda tighter. She could feel herself beginning to wake up.  
  
"Goodbye Lizzie." Miranda whispered, as she felt her friend vanish completely from her embrace. She sobbed quietly as her heart broke, and yet, she smiled, because Lizzie was going to be fine.  
  
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Lizzie's eyes slowly opened. She couldn't see very well yet, but she could hear. He was still there, next to her, his head down, and shaking terribly with tears. The desire to comfort him became even stronger when she could see him as well as hear him. She squeezed his hand back, finally. He looked up quickly, and she finally got a good look at his face. His eyes were both going black and filled with tears. Her heart broke for him.  
  
"Lizzie! You're awake!" he cried happily. She slowly sat up, careful not to hurt her painful left side. She scooted over and beckoned him to sit next to her. He did so, and was immediately pulled into a hug.  
  
"Please don't cry anymore-oh gosh you're shaking so badly. Why are you shaking? And look at your eyes, it doesn't hurt does it?" she asked pulling back and looking at him, reaching her hands up to touch his face gently. "I'm so glad you're okay." She cried, holding him tightly again.  
  
"I'm okay? Lizzie you were unconscious. I should never have let you drive. I should have been the one in that seat. And I should have...I shouldn't have let......"  
  
"Shhhh...It's not your fault. How long have you been shaking like this?" she asked him, taking his hand and lacing her fingers between his.  
  
"Since I found.....Since I saw......." he trailed off, looking down at his blood stained jeans.  
  
"What is it? Since you saw what?" she asked, following his gaze and feeling her stomach turn. That couldn't be from...  
  
"Miranda." He said quietly.  
  
"You found her? You saw her.....how she.......died?" Lizzie gasped.  
  
"Yea..." Gordo nodded, and was then hugged again.  
  
"Oh Gordo, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through that....."  
  
"Wait, how did you know she was...."  
  
"She came to me. She came to me in my mind while I was unconscious. She told me herself. She told me to choose..."  
  
"Choose what?"  
  
"Between her.....and you."  
  
Gordo's eyes went wide. "W...why?"  
  
"If I chose her, I would have never woken up. If I chose you, I would be able to wake up. I couldn't wake up on my own, because I was torn between the two." Lizzie explained.  
  
After a silence, Gordo asked quietly, "Why......why me?"  
  
Lizzie lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed his cheek. "You were so upset. I could hear everything. Everything you said to me. You were crying, and it hurt me to think about you like that. Then...then you said you were afraid.........and that's when I knew. I knew then and there that I had to wake up and tell you. I've wanted to tell you for so long that...that...I love you, Gordo." She then kissed his lips gently. "I love you."  
  
"I.....I love you too." He smiled, as she rested her head on his chest. She was happy to find he had stopped shaking. She also was happy to be actually feeling this, not only in her heart, but physically.  
  
"Gordo..." she wrapped her arms around his waist and felt him breathing.  
  
"Yea?"  
  
"You don't have to be afraid anymore." She whispered as she fell asleep, keeping close to him.  
  
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Jo McGuire and Mrs. Gordon walked quietly into Lizzie's room to check on their children and found them both asleep.  
  
"She's woken up since we left." Jo said, relieved.  
  
"Should we wake them?"  
  
"No, they need to be together right now." Jo said, looking at how they were sleeping. Lizzie's head was on his chest, and her arms around his waist. While his arms were around her, keeping her close, keeping her safe... They were both smiling.  
  
"You're right. Lets leave them." Mrs. Gordon smiled as they both left the room. Those two were going to have it tough for a while, but they would make it, because they had each other.  
  
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A.N.: Okay, whoa that's sad. I didn't want Miranda to die! I really really didn't! Soooo...I'm gonna try and bring her back to life! Yep, that's my plan. I wanna write a story continuing off of this fic, where they bring Miranda back. :) Maybe something to do with an angel, and a wish, and...well I dunno yet, but I'll try and figure it out! Please Please Please Please review this! I'm dying to know what you thought! And, if you like any of the following :  
  
Lord of the Rings Harry Potter Lord of the Flies Star Wars (Ep. II)  
  
Please check out my other fics! :)  
  
Thank you! I luv you all!  
  
~~~Arwen (Lauri) 


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